SynthesisScientific reports2017
Impact of nutritional supplements on cognitive development of children in developing countries: A meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of iron supplements on cognitive development in children: an umbrella review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of a School-Based Physical Activity and Multi-Micronutrient Supplementation Intervention on Cognitive Function and Academic Achievement Among Schoolchildren in Tanzania: Secondary Outcome from the KaziAfya Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Trial
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- Effects of food supplementation on cognitive function, cerebral blood flow, and nutritional status in young children at risk of undernutrition: randomized controlled trial.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2020Trial
- Effect of fortified balanced energy-protein supplementation during pregnancy and lactation on infant neurodevelopment: a community-based randomized controlled trial in rural Nepal.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- A systematic bibliometric and meta analysis of key factors and emerging AI and ML insights in shaping child cognitive development.Discover mental health · 2025Review
- The early advantage: How antenatal care shapes cognitive development in India: Evidence from Young Lives, India.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- The next 1000 days: building on early investments for the health and development of young children.Lancet (London, England) · 2024Review
- Early childhood development and nutritional status in urban Ethiopia.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Article
- Integrative Approach of Treating Early Undernutrition with an Enriched Black Corn Chip, Study on a Murine Model.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Oral nutritional supplementation with dietary counseling improves linear catch-up growth and health outcomes in children with or at risk of undernutrition: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Nutrient trajectories during infancy and their associations with childhood neurodevelopment.European journal of nutrition · 2023Article
- What matters most for early childhood development? Evidence from Malda district, India.PloS one · 2022Article
- Association of Early Nutritional Status With Child Development in the Asia Pacific Region.JAMA network open · 2021Observational
- Maternal pregnancy diet, postnatal home environment and executive function and behavior in 3- to 4-y-olds.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2021Article
- Adaptation of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning for use among infants aged 5- to 24-months in rural Gambia.Developmental science · 2019Article
- Supplementing Mothers and their Offspring with Long-Chain ω-3 PUFAs Offers no Benefit Compared with Placebo in Infant Development.The Journal of nutrition · 2019Article
- Dietary Supplement Use Among Chinese Primary School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in Hunan Province.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Nutritional supplements may be important on cognition but the evidence is heterogeneous. This meta-analysis aimed (1) to determine whether nutritional supplements provided to pregnant women or young children could improve cognitive development of children in developing countries, and (2) to explore how supplementation characteristics could improve children's cognitive outcomes. This meta-analysis examined nutritional supplementation studies in 9 electronic databases and 13 specialist websites. Experimental studies were included if they were published from 1992 to 2016, were conducted in developing countries, had nutritional supplementation for pregnant women or children aged ≤8, and reported effect sizes on cognitive outcomes. Interventions with confounded components, such as stimulation and parenting, were excluded. 67 interventions (48 studies) for 29814 children from 20 developing countries were evaluated. Childhood nutritional supplementation could improve children's cognitive development (d 0.08, 95% CI 0.03-0.13) and those with ≥5 nutrients was particularly beneficial (0.15, 0.08-0.22). Antenatal supplementation did not improve cognitive development (0.02, -0.01 to 0.06) except for those implemented in the first trimester (0.15, 0.03-0.28). In conclusion, childhood nutritional supplementation was beneficial to cognitive development but could be optimised by providing multiple nutrients; antenatal supplementation should target pregnancy women in the first trimester for better cognitive benefits.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.